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10.14.2014

One win from the World Series

Sunday night I watched the back-and-forth game involving the Giants and Cardinals in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. I was hopeful San Francisco was on its way to taking full control of the series when the Giants tied it in the top of the ninth inning. Then, Kolten Wong stepped to the plate and hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Cardinals and tie the series at one game apiece. …

How many ESPN classics can Missouri baseball teams produce in one post season? What's in the water in this state right now? I want some
— Tyler Brown (@TyMan4_) October 13, 2014

Exciting, yes. But to quote a baseball-loving friend, “Brb. Gagging.” The Cardinals are the last team I want to see in the World Series for several reasons.

Monday, it rained. Poured, actually. All. Day. Long. … And that forced the postponement of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in Kansas City.

There is some appropriate symbolism here. The Royals and their fans have grown a bond over these last weeks and months. The players appreciate the loyalty — 29 years and no playoffs — and the fans appreciate the ride. Last week, a few players invited fans to drink on what turned into a $15,000 bar tab.

You don’t have to think too hard to see how this represents the Royals’ season in some real ways.

That ball should’ve gone deep into the seats. The wind pulled it back, which is a nice break. Moustakas took full advantage by never quitting, and he should’ve been the one to make a play like this.

As usual, I hooped and hollered when the final out came – after holding my breath for a split second as the ground ball up the middle nearly took of Greg Holland’s head.

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The Royals won, and we’ll have a clincher at Kauffman Stadium tomorrow!

One way you know that a town has fallen in love with a team again: It writes the team's name all over itself. Such is the case, right now, with Kansas City and the Royals. The Royals' logos — their name in cursive, their interlocking, serif-fonted 'K.C.' — are everywhere: on signs at the airport, on restaurant awnings, projected onto office buildings, all over people's clothes. On Tuesday, about 10 hours before Kauffman Stadium was to host its first ALCS game in 29 years, a local morning show even demonstrated devices that allow fans to burn the logos into their food, so that they could digest Royals-branded hamburgers, hot dogs and toast.Most everyone in Kansas City is infatuated with the Royals — except, perhaps, for the man who stood outside Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday afternoon bearing a sign that read THIS PARTY ENDS IN HELL — and the love has everything to do with the Royals' play, and particularly with their six straight postseason wins heading into Tuesday night. For the most part, though, those victories did not correspond with the regular-season formula that had produced Kansas City's long awaited playoff appearance. In fact, there didn't seem to be any pattern at all to the wins; they were exciting, they were messy, a remarkable four of them came in extra innings. Other than the Royals' athleticism on the base paths and in the field, they didn't share much in common, stylistically.